Accomplished White Collar Crime Attorneys Join Barnes & Thornburg LLP’s Washington, D.C., Office
INDIANAPOLIS – Solomon Wisenberg and Adrienne Urrutia Wisenberg, two nationally recognized white collar crime criminal defense attorneys, have joined Barnes & Thornburg LLP’s Washington, D.C., office and the firm’s White Collar Crime Defense Group.
The Wisenbergs previously were partners of Wisenberg & Wisenberg, PLLC. Solomon Wisenberg, who joins as a partner, has more than two decades of experience as lead counsel in complex white collar crime investigations and jury trials. He served as deputy independent counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel during the Whitewater-Monica Lewinsky matter and was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. His current national practice involves representing businesses and individuals exposed to federal criminal inquiries or charged with federal crimes.
Adrienne Wisenberg, who will be of counsel, has represented clients in nearly 250 direct appeals and habeas corpus proceedings during her 19 years as a criminal defense attorney. Her experience with the federal appellate and district courts, which has resulted in nearly 50 oral arguments and 60 published decisions, places her among the country’s more experienced criminal appellate advocates.
“Barnes & Thornburg continually seeks to deepen our experience in a variety of practice areas in order to provide effective legal counsel to clients, and bringing Sol and Adrienne to the firm is a huge step toward bolstering our white collar crime practice,” Firm Managing Partner Alan A. Levin said.
During his time in private practice, Solomon Wisenberg has represented a number of clients under investigation for public corruption, bribery, fraud, foreign corrupt practices, false statements to government officials, arms export control act violations, theft of federal property, unlawful transportation of firearms, and possession with intent to distribute narcotics.
In addition to his private practice, Solomon Wisenberg was chief of the Financial Institution and Health Care Fraud Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas. He directed approximately 75 to 100 criminal investigations during his tenure as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Texas and North Carolina. In the 1980s, he was Acting Special Counsel for Judicial Selection and Attorney-Advisor in the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Policy under U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese.
A noted commentator, speaker and author, Solomon Wisenberg has lectured on white collar crime issues at a number of schools. He also has served as an instructor at the Department of Justice's Trial Advocacy Institute and as a guest speaker at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Va. He also has served as a legal source on a variety of topics discussed on major television networks and cable programs. Solomon Wisenberg is a 1980 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law.
Adrienne Wisenberg also has a breadth of experience. During her private practice career in San Antonio, Texas, she defended clients in state and federal courts throughout Texas, in both the trial and appellate arenas. She then joined the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Texas for six years, concentrating on federal appellate work in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Adrienne Wisenberg later returned to private practice in 1998 to defend death penalty appeals and habeas cases. Since then she has investigated, briefed, litigated and argued a half dozen complex federal capital habeas cases, while continuing to develop her non-capital appellate practice, and her sentencing and pre-trial motions practice, as well.
A 1989 graduate of St. Mary's University School of Law, Adrienne Wisenberg is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. She speaks, writes and teaches on federal criminal law topics. She served as adjunct professor at St. Mary's University from 1994 to 1997, where she received the Outstanding Public Justice Faculty Award from the St. Mary's University Public Justice Students' Association. In 2005 and 2006, she was named one of San Antonio's best appellate lawyers by Scene in SA Monthly.
The Wisenbergs join Barnes & Thornburg’s white collar group, co-chaired by Larry Mackey, who served on the federal prosecution team responsible for the convictions of the Oklahoma City bombing defendants. Co-chair George Horn is known as a former member of the prosecution team in the case against former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson.
“It’s not every day that one has the opportunity to work alongside two attorneys who bring with them the experience and knowledge that Sol and Adrienne have,” Mackey said. “Their addition to the firm further boosts our capabilities in the white collar crime arena, where the stakes often are high for companies and individuals who find themselves on the wrong side of criminal prosecutions.”
With more than 475 attorneys and other legal professionals, Barnes & Thornburg ranks among the 100 largest law firms in the United States. The firm serves clients worldwide from its offices in Chicago, Indiana, Michigan and Washington, D.C.